About Lara and Brian

Lara made the decision, aged 8, to discontinue ballet lessons in favour of horse riding. Dancing was fun, but horse time of any kind was far more precious; she wanted to be around horses and for horses to want to be around her. A decade of Saturday afternoons were passed at a riding school in Dorney, where the focus for Lara was on connection, rather than competition. She began practicing Reiki aged 15 and would use this on any animals that seemed to appreciate it.

Aged 19, a break from regular horse-time was necessary, living in London to complete her dissertation on the subject of non-verbal communication, and graduate with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology & Counselling in 2005. Lacking the life experience to become a counselling therapist at 21, she pursued a non-equestrian career in an unrelated field.

Lara was in due course able to enjoy a rewarding connection with a little cob named Shadow who renewed her passion for riding. Time spent close to horses seemed to reverse the negative effects of a stressful office job, and an appreciation for the value of massage and relaxation in general on her own body developed and increased as years passed.

In 2015, after witnessing the effects of a Masterson Method® session, and the desire horses had to participate in the session, she began reading Jim Masterson’s book ‘Beyond Horse Massage’ and practicing elements of the approach.

Now a qualified practitioner, Lara continues to enjoy the process of listening to the horse and following their responses to uncover how best to help them feel, and be, at their best.

Brian started out life as a horse-fanatical child, working every weekend for several years at an Olympic dressage yard in return for rides and lessons. Life then took him in a different direction until ten years ago, when he fell back in love with these stunning and majestic creatures.

With a background in human therapy (massage and reflexology) he tried his hand at helping a horse with a stiff neck/shoulder one day and was so amazed by the change in relationship and positive response of the horse, that he went home and started researching how he could learn to do a more professional job. What stood out for Brian was the Masterson Method® with its intuitive approach following a horses responses. So, he bought the ‘Beyond Horse Massage’ book and DVD. Brian tried out a few techniques and was so impressed with the results he found himself on a two-day seminar a couple of weeks later leading on to certification a couple of years further down the road.

Brian gets great satisfaction from the depth of rapport achieved with every horse while using the Masterson Method®. Brian has also qualified as an Equine Sports Massage Therapist with Equissage along the way finding it a natural progression from human massage and a great accompaniment to the Masterson Method®.

To discuss your needs and to arrange an assessment and session for your horse, please get in touch!